PALM BEACH GARDENS, Fla. — At the crack of dawn on Saturday, Tiger Woods started to bring his game out of the darkness.

Woods, off to the worst start of his 18-year professional career, birdied his first hole and added six more to shoot his lowest round of the year, a 5-under-par 65 on the Champions Course at the PGA National Resort and Spa to move up the leader board in the Honda Classic.

Woods, teeing off more than six hours before the leaders, needed just 23 putts to move within six shots of pace-setter Rory McIlroy, who opened with 63-66.

Woods got rolling with his putter out of the gate with a birdie from 16 feet on the first hole, and then added a 30-footer for birdie on the fifth and a 25-footer for birdie on the seventh. He got more red numbers from eight feet on the 10th, 12 feet on the 14th and 6 feet on the 15th. He also chipped in from more than 50 feet away for birdie on the 11th.

Woods missed birdie attempts from 16, 11 and 14 feet on the final three holes.

"I played well today," Woods said. "I wish I could have gotten one of the last two coming in, would have been nice. I felt a lot better. I didn't hit the ball very well yesterday … just kind of grinded it out. Today I struck the ball well and made some putts. I hit the ball really solid, which was nice."

Woods, who opened with a 71 and made the cut on the number with a 69 on Friday, started the day 11 shots behind McIlroy. But Woods recorded a second consecutive round in the 60s for the first time this year.

In his first two starts of the year, the world's No. 1 missed the 54-hole cut in the Farmers Insurance Open at Torrey Pines, where he has won eight times as a professional, and finished in a tie for 41st in the Dubai Desert Classic.

Woods said he wasn't overly concerned by his early struggles. For starters, this is just his third start of the season. And he's been through dry spells before.

"It's going to turn around," Woods said. "We are all going to have hot spells and we're going to have cold spells, especially the longer we stay out here. You try and get those hot spells and ride them as long as you can and get those cold spells as short as they can."

His putter has been cold, that's for sure. Despite his success in the third round, Woods couldn't pinpoint why he putted better.

"You know, that's a good question," he said. "I just felt like I had good feel today. I missed my share of putts, too. The last couple holes it would have been nice to get one of those, too.

"But I played the par 3s in 3 under today was pretty nice."

Woods was hoping to get to 6 or 7 under but was happy to take 5 under. Whether he did enough to get back into the tournament will depend on what the leaders do this afternoon.

"Rory," Woods said, "could run away and hide."

Still, Woods will take a lot out of his 65.

"Today was a positive day," he said. "I hit the ball well and made some putts and got myself back in the hunt. I'm up there as of now, but we'll see what the guys do this afternoon."